Updating Outdoor Eyesores – Just A Few Days Too Late

Do you guys ever get those irrational worries about how your house looks right before hosting a party? Leading up to Clara’s birthday on Saturday I was thinking random stuff like “I really should touch up some of the caulk in the sunroom before everyone comes over” like anyone would notice. And Sherry said “the patio table could use a fresh coat of paint” was running through her head when we were using a tablecloth anyway. But one thing that never crossed our minds was: “The back door is in pretty rough shape. Maybe we should do something about it before IT BECOMES THE PLACE WHERE KIDS PLAY WITH BUBBLES FOR HOURS.” Oh well.

The good news is that this door (it leads to the garage by the way) could have looked worse. Here’s what we were dealing with last summer before we ditched the broken screen door & replaced the old rusted light (which we’ve since swapped out again, but more on that in moment). Ignore the green tint on those bricks – they need some attention.

The screen door removal accentuated the fact that the cream-colored door didn’t match the white trim on the rest of the house while revealing more creaminess (and dirtiness) from where it had been attached. That along with the cracking and flaking paint, ugly meter box, and our inability to keep the hose tamed made for a pretty unkempt look for Saturday’s guests. At least we had gotten around to mulching and adding some fresh stones pre-party (we don’t have gutters, so the rocks keep dirt and mulch from splattering everywhere during storms).

Luckily no one left the party complaining about how our door ruined the event (I think we successfully distracted everyone with bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles), but twenty photos of kids smiling in front of THAT DOOR were enough to finally spur us into action. First I prepped it by wood filling the holes, scraping off any peeling paint, sanding the rough spots, and giving the door and the windows a good cleaning. Then I applied two coats of Sherwin Williams’ Snowbound (leftover from the rest of the house’s trim). I rolled all of the flat parts and used an angled brush to do the window mullions, which then got scraped clean with a straight razor after everything dried.

While I tackled the door, Sherry painted the meter box a color that’s closer to the bricks. It’s a quick update that we broke out in our first house that only calls for a test pot of outdoor paint (she used Behr Premium Plus Interior/Exterior paint in Burnt Russet) and around twenty minutes for two quick coats.

Most of this was accomplished while Clara was at school and while Teddy was, well, just chilling nearby. Let’s pretend he was cheering us on.

We also picked up a hose pot from Lowe’s in an attempt to keep that hose in order. We’ve never used one before, but hope we have better luck with it than those winding hose storage boxes that we’ve attempted before.

Oh and the light. We made this swap over the winter but it was so sad and brown outside that we never got around to taking after photos. We liked but didn’t love the lights we installed last November, and some of you wisely pointed out that their design wasted a lot of light that was cast upwards. We soon stumbled upon a matching pair of at our favorite local lighting shop (the Decorating Outlet here in RVA). It and its bigger cousin, which we installed above the garage, each had a cracked pane of glass on the side so they were marked down by 50%. To fix them we replaced the broken pane on the side of each one with the mint-condition pane from the back of each one. Since it sits so close to the house you can’t see that it’s missing back there anyway.

When everything was said and done, the space was definitely looking fresher, although it’s not exactly heart-stoppingly-exciting. We’ll eventually plant some stuff in the mulched bed which should help – and we might grab a bright doormat for a little more color. In the meantime we tossed down a spare black-bordered one that we had in the garage.

There’s so much else going on nearby with the deck that we might be over-thinking the whole “more color” thing. The reason we opted to paint the door white was so that it didn’t call too much attention to itself and just kinda blended in with the rest of the house’s white trim (and matched the white french door in the sunroom).

We don’t have any more parties planned for a while, but we hope to host some low-key family BBQs over the summer like we did last year when things were looking more like this…

Something tells me this year’s gatherings will be a little easier on the eyes.

Oh and while we were on the outdoor updates train, we grabbed this three-tiered plant hanger from Home Depot. It’s by Pennington if that helps you hunt it down – and we hung it next to the kitchen window on the deck. Since we were drilling into brick, we needed to break out the hammer drill with a masonry bit, but it just took two screws and anchors (meant for brick) to secure it.

With all the deer that roam our yard we’d be hard-pressed to have any luck with raised beds in the grass, so we thought this solution was an easy way to add some herbs to a place that we hope won’t be infiltrated (we went with basil, parsley, and lemon balm). We’ve never seen them up on our deck (our theory is that they smell Burger and don’t want any part of that) so we’ll have to see how it goes.

We’d eventually like to build and stain a big wooden planter (most likely one that moves so we can find the best spot on the deck to put it) for larger edibles like tomatoes and peppers – so we’ll have to see if we can get that done before planting season is over.

Is anyone else planting stuff like herbs or tomatoes? Or do you get those weird last minute worries about fixing something totally random (like caulk) before a party? In the end does it feel like nobody notices anyway? Although that baby pool/mower/dead grass/slate collection/table combo that we had going on in the backyard last summer might have been hard to miss.

P.S. We took Teddy’s five week picture yesterday, and he looks twice as big as he did in the first one (this morning he weighed in at 11 pounds!).

Comments

You are not alone! I always drive my husband crazy with all of the little things I worry about that no one else would notice!

The planters are a great idea. I would put some heavy duty casters on it so you can just roll it where you want it-soil is heavy! You should check out Grow Great Grub, it’s one of the best resources on container gardening I have found.

Teddy’s pic is cute, he really is growing fast! Is it weird that I was happy to hear he’s 11 lbs? My little guy is a week older than Teddy and he went from 9lbs at birth to 12 lbs at his 1 month check up! He’s already moving into 3 month clothes in some brands. All the other babies I know that were born close to him are so much smaller. It’s nice to know he isn’t the only big guy out there!

Looks great you two! When you took down your screen door though, did it leave holes in the door frame and if so, how did you fill them? I took down our back screen door as well (pant it a fun color! I say) but it left tons of holes and I’m not sure what the best thing is to fill them in with.

We just planted our garden. It’s made up of several raised beds and large planter barrels, mostly recycled from other purposes…although I have to say it’s not *quite* as cool as that tiered planter. I need to figure out how to DIY one of those! It’s so cool!

My mother has this last minute habit of freaking out that the “silverware drawer might have crumbs in it and a party guest might see them”. God forbid. And now I have adopted her crazy habit and catch myself de-crumbing the silverware drawer when its time for a party.

AHH THE CAULK! So glad to know my husband isn’t the only person who obsesses about caulk (esp. before a party!) Now John I must know, do you inspect other people’s caulk when at their homes? If my husband had been at your party, he would have noticed. #youaregladwearenotfriendsinrealife

Public Service Announcement: Keep your Basil chopped! The tender green leaves taste the best, most aromatic, etc, when they are on tender green shoots. A wooden-looking stem = a bitter pesto. Trust me… these are words of bitter (love the pun) experience. Just inch ’em back every few days and soon you’ll have a ton of the delicious stuff! And… you can always freeze pesto for future use (like in the winter!) when basil plants are hibernating. Or dead. Also learned from experience haha.

First off your door looks amazing. I couldn’t believe how much nicer it looked after you painted it! Also we do the same thing before company comes for a party. Last christmas party it was finish the basement and put in carpet. This year it was finish trim work in basement for family Easter get together and now it is finishing flooring upstairs for a graduation:) Although I’m sure it doesn’t get noticed I always have various projects on my mind when a lot of people are coming over and I’m glad to see I am not the only one. Btw congrats on all the awards you won for the housearama. I thought you both did an amazing job!!

A recent silly “oh no, I must do this before they come over!” was when I was cleaning up before someone from our local Birth to Three program was coming over (our daughter is a bit behind developmentally so they’re evaluating her for some extra help) and I was freaking out over every little thing that I have been meaning to do but put off. As if the lady was going to call Child Services on us because I need to touch up the paint from where the old thermostat was and the couch slipcovers could use a wash!

This is a great post. I really like your small projects as much as the big ones. I may not have carpet to rip and and replace with hardwood, but I definitely have a tired looking door to freshen up! Thanks for demonstrating how a little time and paint goes such a long way.

I really like the new light fixture; it has better proportions. I painted our electrical box to match our siding and it looks so much less… UGLY BOX, LOOK AT ME!

If you Google ‘deer resistant plants’ you can find out if any of your current yard shrubs are attracting the deer and what to plant that they don’t like. Here’s a good one from Rutgers Univ.

Thanks again for a great blog… (I see you updated your profile pic that shows in your comment replies, yay for 4!)

I’m the same way. I think of some detail that no one else will notice and obsess over it and the Mr is like “uh, no one will ever notice that!” Like I wince in horror when company overlooks my patio in the winter with everything all crappy looking and he’s like “they don’t expect flowers in February!”

We’ve got herbs and some annuals waiting to go in the ground and since the storms have passed, I should probably get on that. Pesto ain’t gonna make itself in a month!

I love that planter! I am anxiously awaiting your ideas for a planter on the porch. We also have a large wooden deck but not much room in our back yard for a garden. Right now I have a container garden with lots of herbs and vegetables in different pots, but I’m looking for a more permanent solution. Thanks for all of the great ideas, guys!

Since you mentioned the deer, it reminded me that I’ve been meaning to tell you about our deer. We’ve had them around for the past 3 years since we moved in. We’ve loved them. And begun to hate them for eating hundreds worth of landscaping. But, this year it’s really bad – there are deer ticks everywhere!!! You can’t walk on our lawn without getting them. My husband even got bit. Not good. So we’ve gone back to spraying the stinky stuff often to keep them away.

I just wanted to let you know that while they are really cute you might want to encourage them to go elsewhere to avoid any Lyme disease with burger and the kids!

We have a tiny garden because we live in an apartment (maybe 3 feet by 12 feet?) which I’ve lazily planted bulbs in before, but last weekend I was so annoyed that my bulbs had come up so early that they were already gone! We spent 3 hours on Saturday and 6 on Sunday buying lots of flowers and soil and collecting boarder bricks from my mom. We had to level an area where the gutters overflow and flood my garden, transplant everything, and lay the border. We had a lot of fun and my garden looks much better!! I bought tomato plants from our farmers market last weekend and am buying green pepper plants this weekend :)

If you do decide to go the sub-irrigated/self-watering planter route, check out – I just adapted this plan for my 2nd story window boxes, and it seems to be working. I bet you could build something on wheels if you want. also has a lot of info about diy sub-irrigation.
And the garden… it’s coming along… a lot is planted, but more needs to go in.

My parents have a huge deck but no yard. They do both container gardening (large pots, each with a tomato plant or something similar in them) and have a large box on wheels for smaller items, herbs, lettuce, etc. Both methods work well.

We have deer at our house, so we just do container gardening. That way, we can move containers to catch the sun, and we can put the containers close enough to the house to eliminate deer munching.

I actually wouldn’t recommend the whole no-gutter thing. We’ve learned that our crawl space is a little more damp than we’d like, and gutters would solve that issue. The odd thing is that in our neighborhood only about 50% of the houses have gutters (and they’re all old houses so we figured “if they’re fine without them you must not need them”) but it turns out they make things a lot easier. We might add some eventually.

We have a deer problem too, and like others have mentioned, they really do stay away from most herbs (except dill – learned that one year, though it could have been rabbits, not deer). My neighbors (all retired) have big fenced in gardens with all the veggies and will leave some on our porch so I really just plant some herbs and a cherry tomato plant and I’m good for the summer!

I’ve only had success with planting tomatoes without a fence when putting a couple basil plants around it. They won’t eat it because the basil is so close and a bonus – basil and tomatoes are not only a good culinary pair, apparently the plants both use different things in the soil so planting them near eachother makes for bigger/better tomato and basil plants!

I bought a planter box from BJ’s that’s about 2 feet by 4 feet, give or take. We currently have some tomato plants in there (one has a baby tomato on it already!) The plants we bought were Sunsugar cherry tomatoes (they’re yellow) and the larger, heirloom Cherokee Purple tomatoes, which I can’t wait to make into a BLT or grilled cheese with tomato and bacon. The planter also has cantaloupe going and was supposed to have mini watermelon, except I accidentally bought a large watermelon from the nursery. We’ll see how it goes! :)

We also have some smaller pots (probably a foot in diameter) that we have parsley, basil, and mint in.

Sometimes little updates are my favorite, because you don’t realize how big of an impact they are until after you do them. Ex – updating light switches, I just ran across a brand called Adorne by Legrande that has some pretty cool ones.

Love the updates! That is so funny, the things I get focused on before hosting a party tend to seem insignificant once the big event unfolds, and then I smack my forehead for something I feel like I should have taken care of lol. Oh well better late than never!
And Omgoodness look at Teddy’s 5 week photo!! I swear I think I see a hint of a smile but it could just be gas haha! Too precious!

What a quick update that makes a huge difference! We have some major door ugliness going on at our house right now too. The screen door from our 3 season porch to our deck is literally falling apart. There is insulation showing where it has come apart, it’s so bad! Now that it’s finally warm enough to be outside here, maybe it will bug us enough to do something about it :)

Nice little update – small things can make a big difference. Also, an FYI – I was on Centsational Girl today and there is a give-away on another company’s website which shows a cushion in the same fabric (I think) as your head board. I can’t believe I recognized it!!! Clearly I spend too much time here.

About the rocks around the foundation – we have gutters but still have significant overspill when it rains heavily so last summer we put the red lava type rock around the foundation in the bad areas. It blends withe mulch so you hardly notice it and it has reduced the dirt splash up a bunch. Just thought I would pass that along.

Oh just wait, those deer will become more and more daring over time. Deer now sit and relax next to our front stoop and all over the front and back yards. They even look annoyed by us when we politely honk at them to get out of the driveway so we can move the car. However, they don’t seem to like steps/big ledges so anything we have grown on a ledge on a section of the retaining wall that is a little out of their reach has been safe. That is the only thing that has been safe from their hunger though :)

I am currently trying to keep my anxiety at bay about fixing all the things before a baptism lunch at my house. I tell myself if I keep one focus (the back entry way to be more welcoming) I will not wig out that my house isn’t ready enough. I strongly dislike that feeling! The door looks nice. Bet it felt good to tick off the list! :)

I have one of those hose pots and hate it. I ended up purchasing one of those winding hose contraptions which I don’t really mind. I’d be curious what you think of the pot after awhile. Teddy’s so adorable!

The door update is great and all, but the real question is…where did you get the cute robot outfit that Teddy is in? With my little one being only a couple weeks behind him, I find myself liking way too much stuff you have for your little man. LOL.

Like others have said, the deer will leave your herbs alone. If you want something pretty too, I really like purple sage and lavender planted together. It’s a striking combo, and nice that I can use both in the kitchen too. And they’re perennial, so you only have to plant them once! The deer also leave all my mint alone, so I have a whole raised bed for various kinds of mint that we love in tea, desserts, and chopped on a fruit salad. Enjoy the summer!

My boyfriend is trying his hand at a veggie garden in pots on our porch. So far everything is green and growing but we haven’t gotten any veggies yet! Its really adorable to watch him water his plants and he was SO PROUD when they started growing. Sometimes I think I date a child…. haha!

Before my son’s 2nd bday party this weekend, I made the hubs patch anchor holes in the wall that had lingered for nearly a YEAR and paint over them. I wanted to deadhead the flowers on one of our succulents… That was the irrational one that just didn’t happen!

I’m curious if the hose container has drainage holes? I hate getting leaves and dirt and schmutz all over our outdoor storage. Nature of the beast I guess?

Some of our best house repairs have been done just before a party ;) I always remember: “Many will see but few will notice”. It might be true but that hasn’t stopped us from hanging art at midnight the day before a party (yup, been there). Your outdoors look so inviting. I’m coming over!

I’ve been growing herbs in my kitchen for a year or two.
I care for the garden at my apartment building so I decided to plant some herbs and cherry tomatoes this year. We have a ton of rabbits in the neighborhood so I put everything into tall pots. So far the plants have been okay.

Snake fears aside, I need to check out a hose pot ASAP! I have never seen that done but it looks so much nicer than my bright green hose sitting in a heap in my front yard (and we all avoid using the backyard hose because no one wants to reel it back up). I feel weird fixating on that detail out of your whole post, but thank you because it kind of just rocked my world.

We have crazy aggressive deer too, and they even come up on our deck! I’ve had success making garden beds with chicken wire caging over them. My husband even made them with a hinge so I can lift the cover off and get inside. If we can do it, it’d be no problem for you guys! ;)

I just realized your house is brick on all 4 sides. That is really rare with new homes these days and so nice for long term maintenance. Your back deck and yard are looking really nice. And Teddy is absolutely adorable!

How funny that I logged on for lunch break and was going to look for paint colors for my front door, but then I decided to see wassup over at John and Sherdog’s place, and Lo and Behold, here you guys are doing over your back door. Just the right inspiration I need to get busy.

Our house color is a creamy beige with white trim. My front door, which gets all-day sun (All DAY, Son!), used to be a lovely, deep “Mountain Berry” color, which has now totally faded to ‘Lame Berry’. Any suggestions for color that is eyecatching but can take the sun?